Music / Hello Tokyo’s Secret Playlist
We launch our new newsletter, My Secret Playlist next Tuesday — with Moby’s selections — and as a teaser for it, we asked Brooklyn power pop group Hello Tokyo to tell us about eight of their favourite songs right now.
1. Parts and Labor — The Gold We Are Digging (SAM).
The beautifully mangled and powerfully driving beat lured me in, the dirty/glitchy undertones kept me interested, and the anthem-esque lyrics and melody sold me. Don’t even get me started on their new video.
2. God Only Knows — The Beach Boys (VINCE).
If songs represented NFL teams, this one would be the 1985 Bears. The melody in the opening vocal line alone capture everything you can possibly intend to express in a love song, before the lyrics (and mind-blowing ones at that) were even added. This is coupled with a masterpiece arrangement: offence, defense, coaching, and special teams in perfect harmony.
3. Beck — Timebomb (KAT).
Any song that can instantly make me happy and want to dance goes to the top of my playlist. Beck has been and continues to be a major influence, particularly on our next album.
4. Cake — Short Skirt/Long Jacket (KAT).
This is the only band I’m into that knows how to use a Vibraslap tastefully. The melody and lyrics are very unique, one of those songs you know as soon as it starts. A short skirt and a long jacket is my favorite outfit anyways. I’m pretty sure this song is about me.
5. Oingo Boingo — Grey Matter (JOHN).
Not only is Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo genius, this song saved my life. Honestly! While driving overnight from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh on tour (somewhere around Zanesville, Ohio, at 4:30am), I was one Chris Isaak song away from falling asleep behind the wheel. Lucky for me, the MP3 player was on shuffle and Grey Matter popped on. It was way better than coffee or Red Bull or any other stupid wannabe 80s band. Oingo Boingo kills it, and they existed so you don’t have to.
6. Big Country — Close Action (JOHN).
Rad song by my alltime favorite band. They’re basically the reason I started playing music. In my opinion, this song has the greatest bass line ever (Tony Butler rules). This is the first time a song made me feel nostalgic, before I even knew what nostalgia meant. Not only is this song full of longing, it’s full of awesome guitar riffs, sick drum beats, and e-bow mastery. I wish I could write a song with one-thousandth the sweetness of Close Action.
7. The Wrens — Happy (EAVVON).
As one of my favorite bands from New Jersey, this song means the most to me at this point in my life. The development of the tension, yet the lack of real structure, builds this song more into a confessional instead of a thought out projection of emotion. Charles even kicks the attitude of the track into an optimistic conclusion free of words, form, or logic in a streamlined transition that appears as a further justification of his own personal happiness.
8. Ol’ Dirty Bastard — Shimmy Shimmy Ya (EAVVON).
One of my favorite rappers, Ol’ Dirty Bastard does for Hip-Hop what Iggy Pop did for punk rock. His energy and foolishness not only tells its own tragic story, but also ironically provides joy to its listeners and acts as a true testament to the relationship between entertainer and fan.
Sign up to receive My Secret Playlist emailed to you each Tuesday.
Tagged: Brooklyn bands, Hip Hop, My Secret Playlist, New York bands, power pop
- 7
- 0
RELATED
I love Brooklyn band Durty Nanas. They were formed in 2005 and play street spaces, galleries, lofts, and block parties. So I guess they are the ‘real’ Bloc party.
The Weight are a Brooklyn-based quintet that makes sincere-sounding Waylon Jennings-David Allen Coe inspired outlaw country and Creedence-Skynyrd-tinged Southern rock. Read more
TV On The Radio poster and vinyl
Happy, happy, joy, joy! We have a TV On The Radio poster designed by Tunde, as well as Dear Science on vinyl, to give away to a randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscriber who leaves a comment under this post telling us why they simply must have it.
Also by ZOLTON
TV On The Radio poster and vinyl
Happy, happy, joy, joy! We have a TV On The Radio poster designed by Tunde, as well as Dear Science on vinyl, to give away to a randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscriber who leaves a comment under this post telling us why they simply must have it.
Ok, so it’s 3.30 on Thursday afternoon and I’m sitting in a Brooklyn cafe, tapping away as fast as two fingers possibly can. As I look around, discreetly to my left and then more openly to my right, I cannot see a single person in this warm and friendly place wearing a more stylish and comfortable scarf than the one that I have wrapped around my neck. Yes, as my grandfather would say, it’s a very ‘handsome’ scarf — a soft, playful, ‘handsome’ scarf. And you know what? There’s not a single damn person in this room who can compete with it. Ha! That feels good. That feels very, very good. Mind you, it is 76 degrees outside, and I’m starting to sweat, so perhaps I’m just a little … ummm … over-dressed.
Fujiya & Miyagi discuss their album, Lightbulbs
The new Fujiya & Miyagi album, the aptly titled Lightbulbs, is a typically crackling collection of songs, ‘a pulsing antidote to the ordinary’. Formed in 2000, the electronic duo of David Best (guitars and vocals) and Steve Lewis (synths, beats, programming), have since added bass player Matt Hainsby to the mix (in 2004), and now have an album in their catalogue which is ‘littered with fragmented images, anecdotes from the sublime to the ridiculous, blurry stories that you feel you shouldn’t have overheard’. The guys have given us the inside word on each track from the album, starting with the opener, Knickerbocker: ‘A vibration of words that sound good, touching on lost innocence, child star Lena Zavaroni, the very first tragedy of X Factor-style excess, and the joy of multi-storeyed ice cream sundaes at Woolacombe Bay. Knickerbocker mixes my sister’s and my memories of watching Lena Zavaroni on TV, whilst eating ice cream as children’. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Tim Lee’s illustrations are wonderfully intricate and precise, a tangled world of escapism and realism mixed into one. Read more
In an over-saturated Swedish music scene, The Tough Alliance have delivered glistening electronic dance pop on their new album, A New Chance. Read more
Australian group Pivot have recently signed with the mighty Warp label and — even better (well, for us anyway) — have written a fun Secret Playlist for us. You can see where the many disparate influences have seeped into their latest recording, the beautiful and colourful, O Soundtrack My Heart.
We have a bunch of new playlists up on our sister site, My Secret Playlist, a music discovery website and weekly email publication in which we invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. Over the past few weeks, acts such as The B52s, Team Genius, Pivot, Jukebox the Ghost, Moby, Katy Perry, and the Dandy Warhols, among many others, have written about the music that inspires them. To sign-up to receive the weekly My Secret Playlist publication, just enter your email address into the website’s subscription box.
When this scruffy fellow opens his gob, something high and mighty emanates. His music is great for long drives, in cold places and long nights in warm places. We speak of Bon Iver, who we interviewed recently. Read more
Look closely at the froth of this latte and you’ll see a portrait carved out amongst the grains and milk. It’s a truly a work of art and it’s a feature of the coffee served at Richmond, Melbourne cafe Flavours of Lakhoum. Check, please!
Anchored in Paris and Helsinki, the design and illustration duo of Anna Ahonen and Katariina Lamberg is conquering mediums across fashion, advertising and print. Small team. Big ideas. We like.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
I love the sense of intimacy about the work of Chicago-based photographer, Brian Ulrich. His retail project Copia ‘is a long-term photographic examination of the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live’. We interviewed him recently and asked him what camera he uses once he gets inside a store he’s photographing: Read more
The directorial debut of John August, a writer who was worked on films such as Go, Big Fish and Corpse Bride, is a complex and thought-provoking arthouse feature crowned with a spectacular performance by Ryan Reynolds in the lead role. Like most films, it is in three parts. However, these are three distinct parts with the same actors all playing different roles. Read more
Swiss manufacturer Peraves has recently introduced the Monotracer, a two-wheeled vehicle that’s remarkably similar to the lightcycles in Tron. Buckminster Fuller would be proud.
Scour, a new way of searching the net
Have you heard about Scour yet? If not you will. It is quickly emerging as the most serious competitor to the Google search engine, with an approach based on votes and comments from users focusing on relevance. It delivers search results from Google, Yahoo and MSN, and the best feature is that each time you search, vote or comment, you receive points which can be exchaged for VISA gift cards. Sour gives you one point for each search, two points for each vote and three points for each comment. With around 6,500 points, you will receive a $25 VISA gift card. Not bad for doing something you’re doing now anyway for free.
Located on a mountain in country outside Mudgee, in New South Wales, Australia, a permanent camp designed by Casey Brown has been set. A timber structure clad in copper has been designed to have a closed state and an open state. From the closed position, the flanks of copper are hoisted and capture views across the valley. With an imagery of structures, materials and mechanics of old, there is something romantic about this foothold on the hill.
Australian illustrator Moofus is just 11 years old. As he says, ‘my mum and dad won’t let me leave school to get a proper job, so I draw lots of pictures’. This limited edition print of Sydney’s Coogee Beach is printed on Epson heavyweight matt paper with archival inks and is just US$20 through the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
Happy, happy, joy, joy! We have a TV On The Radio poster designed by Tunde, as well as Dear Science on vinyl, to give away to a randomly selected Lost At E Minor subscriber who leaves a comment under this post telling us why they simply must have it.
Discuss
- curiousmoth on "books/literature section in Lost At E minor?"
- curiousmoth on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- Huna on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- Andy on "books/literature section in Lost At E minor?"
- Andy on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- Andy on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- curiousmoth on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
- Huna on "Art & Politics/Propaganda?"
Recently
- Shattered vinyl necklace Andy
- Dr. Zilog Gerry Mak
- Phillip Fivel Nessen Ilana Kohn
- Young Blood at New York’s Opera Gallery Jenn Porreca
- Collaborate with Spike Lee on a mobile film Casper Johansson
- TV On The Radio poster and vinyl Zolton
- The Teddy Bear’s Picnic Casper Johansson
- Juana Molina Francis Andrews
- Aurie Ramirez Gerry Mak
- Gojira’s Vacuity Gerry Mak
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
TAGS: acoustic music animals animation Australian bands black and white illustrations black and white photography blogs Brooklyn Brooklyn artists Brooklyn bands cartoons China collaboration colour colourful illustrations comics electronic music flash games folk music Hip Hop Japan London Los Angeles magazines Melbourne New York New York artists New York bands New York illustrators New York photographers pop music portrait portraits prints rock music San Francisco soul music street art street fashion surrealism Sydney t-shirts technology typography UK bands
IMAGES:
POPULAR:
- Marc Collin: My Secret Playlist!' - loved 60 times
- Brittanie Pendleton - loved 48 times
- Elaine Biss's feminine charms - loved 25 times
- Ed Harcourt: 'My Secret Playlist' - loved 22 times
- Prefab House - loved 19 times
- Andreco's brilliant visions - loved 18 times
- I Give Up On T-Shirts - loved 16 times
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Or if you’d just like to talk amongst yourselves, that’s cool too. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
